TENCHI WAKUSEI, BOOK ONE: "NO DREAMS FOR TENCHI" By Joe Meadows (gpabn@yahoo.com) NOTA BENE: This novel (comprising 24 chapters, a Prologue, and an Epilogue) is a sequel to the "Tenchi Muyo Television Series" ("Tenchi Universe"), with some "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki!" original OAV series characters and elements included where--in the author's opinion--they don't conflict with "Tenchi Universe." For example, in order to flesh out a family background for Ayeka and Sasami, rather than create new characters, I used the existing parental figures of King Asuza and Queen Misaki from the OAVs. In order to bring the Galaxy Police more into the story, I re-instated the Grand Marshall as Mihoshi's grandfather and used an existing character from the Tenchi Muyo mangas, Chief Tor Bodai. And so on. AIC and Pioneer LDC, whose kind indulgence I am counting on, own the copyrights on the original Tenchi Muyo characters. The character of Chief Tor Bodai was created by Hitoshi Okuda for the Tenchi Muyo manga series and is also copyrighted by AIC and Pioneer LDC. All truly new characters are my creation. Those characters and the actual story are copyright 2002 by yours truly. The lyrics for both versions of the theme song for "Speed Racer," the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album, the Beach Boys' "Surfing USA," the theme to "The Brady Bunch," and "Amore" are copyrighted by their various owners. The events that comprise the "Tenchi Universe" series are discussed in this novel; consequently, spoilers lurk within. Be warned. Please check out the "Chapter Notes" at the end of some of the chapters. Feedback is very welcome! I can be reached at gpabn@yahoo.com and thanks for taking the time to read this novel. ------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE No Need For Help ________________ "Kiyone received a comm call? From her brother?" Ayeka asked Mihoshi. "Uh-huh! Isn't it wonderful?" Mihoshi beamed. "Yes, I suppose it must be." Ayeka looked at Mihoshi, her voice and manner reflecting her curiosity. They were both in the kitchen. Mihoshi had left Lord Yosho's bedroom and hurried downstairs, anxious to see how well the call went for Kiyone. She wanted to see Kiyone's happy face. She had then heard someone in the kitchen closing a cabinet door. So she wandered into the kitchen and found Ayeka there. In about two minutes, she had blurted out the news to Ayeka. She couldn't help it. Ayeka had appeared so kind and understanding. She had obviously forgiven Mihoshi for sacking out on the couch earlier that day. "Kiyone really wants to be closer to her family," Mihoshi said. "That's why this call is so important to her. She'll feel better about things now. You know?" Now Ayeka smiled warmly. "I know. I am glad, Mihoshi. You did not have anything to do with this...did you?" "Well..." Mihoshi smiled, casting her eyes downward. "I see. You are a very good friend, Mihoshi." Mihoshi looked up. "That's what Washuu said." "She was correct, then. I suppose she is in her laboratory with Kiyone?" "I guess so. Where's Sasami?" Mihoshi wanted to tell her young friend the glad news, too. "She went outside to talk to Lord Tenchi and Tristram about acquiring the ingredients for that pizza party," Ayeka told her. "I fear we do not have the right things here to make that dish. It will require a trip to the village. I suppose she and Tristram have left by now. Perhaps Lord Tenchi has accompanied them." "That sounds like fun," Mihoshi enthused. "I wish I could have gone along! But...wasn't she supposed to watch...?" "To watch me? Yes, I suppose so. She simply forgot. Nothing has happened, of course. I took a quick nap in the living room, on a couch--rather like you did earlier, Mihoshi." Ayeka smiled ruefully. "I suppose I am still not getting enough sleep at night. I was just about to have a glass of iced water. Would you care for some as well?" "Well..." Mihoshi hesitated. "Would you prefer tea, instead?" Ayeka smiled an understanding smile. "Perhaps some rice cakes as well? I believe we have some in the pantry." Mihoshi appeared troubled. "Is something the matter, Mihoshi?" Ayeka asked her. "l...I don't know. I guess Sasami could forget to watch you, Ayeka. I forget things, too. And I did kinda fall asleep on the couch earlier. But you've never taken a nap in the daytime, Akeya. At least, I've never seen you do it. It seems...strange." Mihoshi looked closely at the Princess. "Nothing is strange, dear. Why do you think something is strange?" Ayeka walked up to Mihoshi. Her lovely ruby eyes were radiant. But the radiance was unnatural. "You must not say silly things, Mihoshi. You must not. You will spoil everything." Those ruby eyes blazed into Mihoshi's eyes. Now Ayeka's hands grabbed Mihoshi's arms. They held her arms in a death grip. "I think," Ayeka said sweetly, her eyes filled with a hellish light, "that you should be the first to die, dear." Mihoshi was transfixed by Ayeka's blazing eyes. She was all but frozen in place. But something inside her, something stronger than even she knew, acted. She opened her mouth. And screamed. Ryoko, dozing on a wide ceiling beam in the living room, was startled to wakefulness by Mihoshi's terrified scream. She sat up quickly and banged her forehead smartly against the ceiling itself. She swore, rubbing her forehead. "Damn you, Mihoshi!" she snarled. "You ditz!" She heard Mihoshi scream again. What the hell...! Ryoko zoomed down from the rafters and continued on, across the living room and into the kitchen, where the scream seemed to come from. Once inside the kitchen...she stopped. The Princess stood there quietly. Mihoshi, having broken Ayeka's iron grip, now stood a few yards from her, trembling. "What's going on in here?" Ryoko demanded. Ayeka turned toward her. Her eyes were like ruby fire. "You will die second, space pirate," Ayeka said. "You will die screaming with agony." "Princess! Cut the crap!" Ryoko spoke forcefully but she was badly shaken. Those eyes! "It's not the Princess!" Mihoshi wailed. Ryoko shook her platinum head. "Of course it is! She's just in a trance or something. Like when she had those bad dreams--" Suddenly Ryoko felt a invisible wave of pure energy scoop her up—- and then slam her against a kitchen wall with terrific force. Shelves attached to the wall collapsed, sending delicate bone china crockery tumbling to the floor to burst into a thousand shards. She sat on the kitchen floor, bruised and stunned. Yet the Princess had not moved. There were no little wooden Guardians orbiting her, nor the shimmer of Jurai power encasing her. Ayeka had not done this. Then, who...or what...? Suddenly, for one of the few times in her life, Ryoko felt fear. "A trance!" The voice issuing from Ayeka was contemptuous. It was also harsh and metallic. Clearly it was not the Princess speaking anymore. "Hypnosis! Merely a weak tool to entrap weaklings. A key to open a door to unimaginable power. Fools! Thinking that this was just an attack on this cursed whelp of the corrupt Jurai dynasty. Bad dreams! You will all have bad dreams--and you will all suffer so horribly you will welcome death!" Mihoshi sobbed with stark fear. She backed away from Ayeka. Suddenly she left the ground. She rose at least eight feet into the air, nearly to the ceiling. Then—-she dropped. She hit the hard tiled floor and collapsed. She lay on the kitchen floor and groaned with pain and fear. "Don't you hurt Mihoshi!" Ryoko was outraged. She sprang to her feet and ran over to Mihoshi and picked her up. She cuddled the weeping woman tenderly in her arms. "Bastard! Fight me, you son of a bitch! I'll send you to hell!" "I am from hell!" Princess Ayeka's pouting, bee-strung lips twisted in a filthy leer. Her eyes continued to blaze. "I will take you all back down there with me. And the galaxy as well! The Jurai dynasty will never recover from this scandal. Princess Ayeka will murder her friends and even her own little sister with her cursed Jurai power—- or so it will appear. The consequences will be devastating. I contemplate the bloody chaos with joy! The Galactic Union will dissolve. The wars will begin again. The whole galaxy will become a flaming pit of strife. I will accomplish this merely by killing you all--with this whelp's own Jurai power!" "The Princess won't hurt us!" Ryoko shouted. "You can't make her hurt us!" "I don't need this whelp, this spawn of corrupted seed--only her power, which I now possess. She will sleep while you all die. Then she will die. Only she will not have a mark on her. She will simply be drained of all her Jurai power and life force. When the Earth authorities find her and you and the rest--and the news reaches the Galactic Union--the proper conclusions will be drawn. The insane would-be Queen of Jurai's maniacal rampage! But you won't care, space pirate. You will be dead!" "Screw that!" Ryoko said, still holding Mihoshi who had stopped sobbing. "I've fought the Princess to a standstill! My power is equal to hers! And we have others here with even more power. You're dead, creep. You just don't know it yet!" But the voice issuing from Princess Ayeka simply laughed, a horribly confident laugh. "Do you mean that old renegade Prince? And his half-breed grandson? Do you think I don't know about them, you stupid bitch? That overrated Washuu was right. I have made a fantastic discovery. Nothing can stand up to it in this dimension, including you. Wait and see!" "Really? Just what have you discovered, Professor Klove?" The voice was calm and clinical. It was Washuu's voice. She walked into the kitchen. Kiyone followed her, holding a blaster in her hand. As Washuu walked closer to Ayeka, Kiyone took Mihoshi from Ryoko. Mihoshi wiped her eyes. "Go get your weapon," Kiyone murmured to her. Mihoshi nodded and left. "Washuu! The foolish pseudo-scientist who meddled in things no one wanted you to meddle in--and was stupid enough to brag about it! A genius!" Ayeka's lips parted with a sneering laugh. "You should still be floating in space, you useless hag. But no, you stay here in this backwater, amazing these clods with your childish inventions. The Mind Minder! Typical. For that, you will die very slowly. It will be a pleasure to kill you. Do you even realize that you too will be blamed for what befalls here? Your reputation will be blackened forever. A happy side benefit to destroying you all." Ryoko snorted. "You talk a good game, creep--" Washuu raised her hand. "No, let him speak, Ryoko. Let's have a full confession from him. He's just digging his own grave deeper, that's all." "Your grave is already dug, Washuu! I'll put you in it now!" Ayeka began to advance toward the diminutive figure of the super scientist. "As a certain cutie once said--you'll have to catch me first!" Washuu darted out of the kitchen. "Come on!" she yelled to the others. "Let's take this outside." Ryoko nodded and then vanished as she teleported away. She had to find Ryo-Ohki, fast! "Right!" Kiyone backed away toward the kitchen entrance. She pointed her blaster at Ayeka, who advanced toward her. "Professor Klove, I arrest you for multiple murder and for trying to escape justice. If you release Princess Ayeka now..." "Go right ahead and shoot, Detective," the voice coming from Ayeka taunted. "Brave words!" Kiyone spoke with contempt. "If I shoot and kill Princess Ayeka, there goes your source of power. You're just a mind transmission, Klove, nothing more. You're no more substantial than air." "You'll find out soon how substantial I am, Detective. Too bad you'll never give your body to that Earth weakling!" Ayeka's lips grinned obscenely. "I know how you burn to! I promise you, you'll hear his screams before you die. By the way, if you shoot and kill this royal bitch, her Guardians will come in here and vaporize you. It's only because she is not conscious that those Guardians have not already attacked you for pointing that weapon at her. You've forgotten that, haven't you? Of course you have. You're just a stupid policeman-- only slightly less stupid than that useless partner of yours."(1) Kiyone seethed at the taunts and felt shamed by the brutal unveiling of her innermost secret desires. She realized that this was precisely what the thing that had to be Professor Klove intended. She lowered her weapon. She resumed backing up. "Outside," she said. "We'll settle this outside." "Yes," Ayeka's lips mocked, as she followed Kiyone menacingly. "Yes. We will." When Mihoshi's screams were heard outdoors, Princess Ayeka's two wooden Guardians had blinked with interest and concern. But they could not detect any threat to the Princess. Without that threat or her spoken orders, they could do nothing. They just stayed put, speaking to each other in hushed, worried voices. But Tenchi and Tris and Sasami didn't stay put. Tenchi and Tris scrambled toward the house, fearing the worse. They had no idea how right they were. Little Sasami pulled up the long hem of her robed gown and scampered after them. They had nearly reached the house when they encountered Washuu exiting it at a fast clip. "Washuu!" Tenchi stopped her. "What's the screaming about? What's going on?" "Don't go in, Tenchi!" Washuu panted, winded by the fast pace she had set. She was spending too much time in front of a terminal, she realized bizarrely. Gotta start getting some exercise. "Klove has struck, finally. He's possessed Ayeka—-" "Ayeka!" Sasami cried, reaching them now. "Oh, I was supposed to watch her! No!" She began to run into the house. Washuu grabbed her roughly. "I said, don't go in!" Washuu all but yelled, holding the little girl firmly by her arms to make Sasami listen to her. "She's coming out anyway. We need to get her out into the open, so we don't destroy this house trying to fight Klove!" "Are we fighting Klove or fighting Ayeka?" Tris asked, stunned by the sudden crisis. "Klove! You know better than anyone, Tris. He can't make Ayeka fight us—-" "Thank God for that!" Tenchi said, vastly relieved. Sasami agreed, tears trailing down her freckled cheeks. Washuu released the little Princess. Sasami quickly stopped crying and rubbed her eyes clear of tears. "But he doesn't need to!" Washuu shook her head with wonderment. "Somehow, he's able to tap into Ayeka's mind sufficiently to draw her Jurai power for his own use. He's used it to toss around Mihoshi and even Ryoko. Don't worry, they're both okay, just shaken up." Tenchi, Tris, and Sasami visibly sagged with relief. Washuu continued explaining, glancing at the open door of the house as she did. "I think Ryoko's gone to get Ryo-Ohki. Kiyone and Mihoshi are armed. They're slowly drawing Ayeka—-Klove--outside. He means to kill all of us and lay the blame on Ayeka. With the rest of us all mangled up and her left untouched, it'll look like she was responsible. Klove thinks it'll raise holy hell when folks in the Galactic Union come to believe that Ayeka was insane—-murderously insane—-and almost became Queen of Jurai with all that power to command. That notion will be helped along by her long separation from Jurai--she wasn't in love, she was insane, and the royal family was hiding her on Earth. That's what folks will think. They'll also think that insanity must run in the royal family. Klove is banking that some Union planets will demand the royal family step down as rulers of Jurai. When the King refuses, those planets will band together and attack Jurai out of self-preservation--" "God! Interplanetary warfare!" Tenchi was dazed at the horrible prospect. "But could it really happen?" "It...it could," Sasami said fearfully. "It could bring back the wars that nearly destroyed whole planetary systems...the awful conflict before the Galactic Union was formed." "I see you know your galactic history, Sasami," Washuu noted dryly. "Yeah, old Klove's got a hell of a plan and it might work--if he can just kill us all, right now." "He won't!" Tenchi's expression was resolute. "With all of us banded together, he's going down!" "That's right," Tris agreed, pumped by his buddy's steely resolution. "Ryoko said it--he's lost before he starts." Washuu looked worried. "I don't know about that. Ryoko and I talked to him through Ayeka and he's perfectly aware of all the forces assembled against him. He doesn't give a flying hoot about it." "Well, he's insane, that's all," Tris countered. Tenchi nodded. "No, he's not, Tris," Washuu said adamantly. "He's a black-hearted murderer, but not insane. Everything he's done has been logical and smart. He first scared us, then gave us time to pooh-pooh his threat when he didn't do anything to follow up. He purposely let us discover the truth, finally—-at least, part of it—-while he simply laughed at us the whole while. He waited until we scattered today before he attacked. As soon as we stopped watching Ayeka like a hawk—-sorry, Sasami, I don't mean to criticize you, it was an understandable lapse—-he probably made her go to sleep and then possessed her. If Mihoshi hadn't had the sand to scream despite his hypnotic power, he could have picked us off, one by one. I never thought I'd ever say this--but thank God for Mihoshi!" "Yes," Tenchi said. "Thank God." He saw that Tris was stooped down, holding a still-trembling Sasami. "Kitten...I know it's bad and you feel guilty. But he was bound to get to Ayeka sometime," Tris said softly to the little girl. "Please don't blame yourself. You're a brave Princess and you're going to see this crud creamed. Right?" Sasami slowly stopped quivering. She slipped from Tris's embrace. She smiled bravely. "Right!" Tenchi smiled down at her. "He can't beat us Jurais, can he, Sasami?" "No way! He won't win," Sasami agreed. "Only, try not to hurt Ayeka. Please, Tenchi?" "He won't hurt her, Sasami," Washuu assured her. "All she is to Klove is a kind of energy source for him. That explains the earlier massacres, with Klove's former pupils dead but untouched. He tapped into each former pupil's life force to create a weapon that killed the pupil's family--and then killed the pupil by draining off all their life force. Damned ingenious! Anyway, we'll be fighting him, or at least the mind projection of himself he's created, not Ayeka. Speaking of which, he said something about dimensions. He didn't answer my question..." "Well, I guess you don't need to worry about that now, Washuu," Tris remarked. "I see Kiyone and Mihoshi backing out the front door." All four of them now watched as Kiyone and Mihoshi, holding their blasters by their sides, walked backward out the open front door of the house. Despite the gravity of the situation, Tenchi and Tris couldn't help noticing the short-shorts both women wore. The two Galaxy Police officers were fully out of the house now and stepping off the engawa. As they did, Ayeka appeared in the doorway. She was smiling sweetly, her eyes two pools of surging flame. "Holy hell!" Tris gasped. "Oh, no, Ayeka!" Sasami instinctively tried to run to her big sister, but an alert Washuu grabbed her again. "I told you, Sasami—-Ayeka is unconscious now," Washuu said. "The thing that's making her walk and talk will kill you! We're the targets now anyway, not Ayeka. That Klove will leave her to come at us. He won't let her get hurt, not while he needs her energy, her power. Okay?" "Okay, Washuu," Sasami said miserably. Tris looked around, hoping to spot Ryoko or Lord Yosho. Instead, his gaze fell upon the two wooden cylindrical Guardians standing their usual vigil just outside the gate. "Hey, you two!" he yelled at them. "We've got a situation here!" Azaka II and Kamidake II lifted from their posts and puttered over to the four humans. Both settled on the ground close to them. "I think you're wasting your time, Tris," Tenchi said. "I know you are," Washuu added. "Huh?" Tris said, confused. "You called us, Tristram Coffin, sir?" Azaka II inquired politely. "Yeah, I did. The Princess is being possessed by a lunatic. Do something!" "Is the Princess is physical peril, sir?" Kamidake II asked. "Well...no. Not yet." "She doesn't seem to be in any danger," Azaka II observed. "As long as those two Galaxy Police officers keep their weapons lowered..." "They will," Tenchi assured them. "Very well then, Lord Tenchi," Azaka II said. "Damn it! Do something!" Tris snapped at the two Guardians. "Unless the Princess is threatened physically or issues commands to us, we can do nothing, sir," Kamidake II said to Tris. "We do not doubt your word, sir." "It is our programming, sir," Azaka II explained. "Great! Great programming!" Tris gritted. "Ayeka can't issue commands--she's unconscious!" "She does not appear unconscious sir," Kamidake II pointed out. "Well, she is, damn it!" "Yes, sir." Tris glowered. "What if Sasami is attacked? Will you do anything then?" "We are programmed to be Princess Ayeka Jurai's Guardians, sir," Kamidake II replied. "No one else's." "Unless Princess Ayeka instructs us differently," Azaka II added. "That's right, Tris," Sasami said. "It's not their fault." "Well, hell!" Tris fumed at the situation. "Why didn't you get some Guardians too, Sasami?" "I will, Tris. Just as soon as I'm formally crowned." "That's a big help now!" "I know..." Sasami looked very young and on the verge of tears. "Tris," Tenchi remonstrated with him. "We know this is pretty frustrating. But chill out, okay?" Tris stared at Tenchi, his face a study in aggravation. Then reason set in. Ayeka had explained to him earlier about her Guardians. In the heat of the moment, he had just forgotten. "Okay. I'm sorry, kitten. You know me...the goofball," Tris told her. Sasami smiled her understanding. "You're just afraid for me and Ayeka. It's okay, Tris." "That Klove--a pretty smart cookie, huh?" Washuu commented. "Had all this worked out way in advance. You gotta admire the guy for that." "Yeah, let's all give him a hand," Tris said sarcastically. Meanwhile, Kiyone and Mihoshi had moved to the middle of the front lawn. Slowly, Ayeka moved forward with them, matching them, step by step, still smiling, her eyes still blazing. It almost looked comical but not so comical that Tenchi, Tris, Washuu, and Sasami failed to begin backing up, too. Azaka II and Kamidake II just stayed where they were, observing them all, but helpless to intervene. Slowly, the group kept backing up...past the gate and into the wide expanse of open lawn in front of the lake. Ayeka followed, slowly but surely. "That's the way," Washuu called out to Kiyone and Mihoshi. "Get her—-him—-out into the open. Away from the house. That's right." "You waste your time, Washuu," the metallic voice issued from Ayeka again. "I am happy to destroy you all out here, of course. But that house you all love will soon be a pile of debris. I am quite good at destroying abodes. I know you found that out." "I'm glad Dad's not around to hear that," Tenchi muttered. Despite the situation, Tris chuckled. "But he'll be coming back soon, Tenchi," Sasami said worriedly. "He said he was just going out to check a building site. How long can that take?" "A long time, I hope," Washuu said. "Please Nobie...take your time!" Kiyone now yelled at Ayeka—-that is, Klove--"You're also good at killing children, you scum!" She was afraid the Klove-controlled Princess would stop following them. Goading him seemed to have some effect. It had more effect than she bargained for. Suddenly, it seemed as if an invisible hand grasped her, then lifted her. Her form rose in the air, higher and higher...ten...twenty feet. Thirty feet. Then forty feet. Kiyone somehow held onto her blaster--and she kept it lowered. She was scared but she knew that firing at Ayeka would simply lead to her own execution by the Princess's two Guardians. "No!" Mihoshi wailed. "No--don't drop her--please! Take me instead! I'll do anything! Please!" "All I want you to do--is die, stupid woman," the voice from Ayeka informed Mihoshi. "In the meantime, behold your partner's exquisite fear. Shall the fall break both her pretty legs...her pelvis? No matter. The pain will be exquisite. I shall enjoy her screams." Tenchi, Tris, Washuu, and Sasami watched helplessly as Kiyone just dangled, high in the air. Mihoshi shouted, almost hysterically, "No--I beg you! Please! Don't hurt Kiyone!" Then something snapped in Tris. He started running toward Ayeka. "Bastard!" he shouted. "You rat bastard! Just show yourself, you bastard! Coward!" "Stop him, Tenchi!" Washuu cried. Tenchi sprinted after his friend. When he was within range, he leaped and caught Tris in a flying tackle. For a fellow who had never played American football, Tenchi proved quite adept at it. He and Tris tumbled onto the ground. The metallic voice from Ayeka laughed. "So, the Earthling buffoon and the half-breed princeling perform for our amusement? You two are very accommodating. Never fear, Earthling, I shall show myself very soon. You should see what is going to kill you before you die." Washuu, Sasami, and Mihoshi ran up to the prone forms of Tenchi and Tris. The women stood the two young men up and brushed them off. "Don't be such a fool," Washuu said to Tris. "I don't blame you for how you feel, but damn it! Use your head! Attack Ayeka and you die, either by Klove or her Guardians." "But what about Kiyone?" Tris demanded. His face was flushed with anger and frustration. "We can't help her now!" Washuu said roughly. "We can't, Tris," Tenchi agreed, his face bleak. "We'll try to catch her, if..." He didn't finish the sentence. "You'll die trying if you do," Washuu told him. "At the rate she'll fall, it'll be like getting hit by a-- "Where's Ryoko?" Mihoshi cried, interrupting the great scientist's technical explanation. "Where is she?" "I don't know for sure," Washuu admitted. "Probably out looking for Ryo-Ohki, like I said." "But Ryo-Ohki might have wandered all the way to the village again," Tenchi said. "She does that sometimes." "I know," Tris muttered. He recalled the first day, when he had almost hit the cabbit with his car. God, it seemed like a century ago. And now Kiyone was in deadly danger and he could do nothing about it. "Wait!" Washuu exclaimed. "Klove said he'd show himself. Of course! Staying both dematerialized and using his power—-Ayeka's power—-to attack us is too much of a drain. He has to show himself. We'll see him and then we can fight him. Just hold on, everyone!" "Tell that to Kiyone!" Tris rasped. "Oh, yeah..." Washuu looked stricken. She stared up in the sky, as they all did, watching Kiyone hover so high in the air helplessly. Kiyone was still in control of herself, managing not to cry out with the fear that filled her, even managing to stuff her Galaxy Police- issue blaster hand weapon into the waistband of her short-shorts. "So you won't show your fear, stupid policeman?" The metallic voice again issued from Ayeka, addressing Kiyone. "That is brave of you-- and useless. Let's see how well you hide pain." Suddenly Kiyone dropped. She hurtled to the ground. Kiyone screamed. Mihoshi screamed. Tris sprinted frantically to stand below her. Tenchi followed him, resolved to do something—-he just didn't know what. Sasami and Washuu gasped. Then they both turned as they heard a soft footfall from behind. Lord Yosho stood there. And he held Sword Tenchi. He looked strangely calm under the circumstances. Kiyone's plummet abruptly halted. She swung crazily in the air. Then she hurtled downward again toward Tris and Tenchi. Some ten feet from the ground, her form again halted in its descent. She slowly lowered to the ground...she was just above Tris now. In a second, she reached the ground, right in front of Tris. Tris grabbed her. Kiyone grabbed Tris. They held each other, tightly. Tenchi goggled at the impossible scene. Then he felt something touch his head. He looked up. Ryoko was floating just above him. "How do you like that for an entrance, sweetums?" she asked, grinning. "Ryoko!" "None other." Ryoko floated lazily to the ground. A moment later, Ryo-Ohki bounded up to join her. "Meow-er!" Ryo-Ohki greeted everyone. Tenchi stared at Ryoko with amazement. Then his expression relaxed as realization came to him. Ryoko had used her power to teleport short distances to somehow grab and lower Kiyone unseen. He regarded Ryoko wonderingly. She winked at him. Cheers from Washuu, Sasami, and Mihoshi caught the space pirate's attention. Ryoko grinned and bowed. "No autographs, please," she said. "Not until after the show." Tris and Kiyone were locked in a deep embrace, laughing and kissing, frantically, joyously. They didn't care who watched now. The sight reminded Tenchi of just how close a call it had been. "Where were you, Ryoko?" he demanded. "Searching for Ryo-ohki, of course. The naughty girl wandered all the way to the farmer's market stalls in the village," Ryoko replied. "Looking for fresh carrots, I guess. It took me a while to locate her. Bad Ryo-Ohki!" "Meow-er," Ryo-Ohki acknowledged contritely. "Well...better late than never," Tenchi said ruefully. "But that was close, Ryoko! Too close!" "Actually, I've been here for a little while," Ryoko admitted. She smiled slyly. "What?" Kiyone stopped kissing Tris. "You mean, you just stood around while I was--?" "Sure! I couldn't just grab you from that Klove creep--not without maybe hurting you, Kiyone. I had to wait until he dropped you." Ryoko's expression now was as innocent as a new-born lamb's. "That sounds pretty thin, Ryoko," Tenchi told her. His face was stern. "Ditto," said Tris. He released Kiyone to glare at Ryoko. "Is that any way to talk to a heroine?" Ryoko asked, grinning. "Besides, didn't I bring Kiyone just where she wanted to be...in Tris's arms? Wasn't that romantic of me, sweetums?" Ryoko slipped her arms around Tenchi. "I think I deserve a kiss—-two kisses—-for that." "Ryoko, we're kind of busy now..." Tenchi began to remonstrate with her and stopped as Washuu, Sasami, and Mihoshi came up to them. Lord Yosho followed right behind. For a moment, Kiyone was engulfed by a blonde whirlwind that kissed her and hugged her and cried, all the same time. Ryoko then found herself kissed and hugged by the same blonde whirlwind. Sasami then hugged Kiyone and Ryoko, too. "Very touching!" The voice issuing from Ayeka dripped with contempt. "You weaklings. Needing each other for reassurance. One of you is threatened and you all go to pieces. Worthless! Killing you will be almost too easy." "I think not, Professor Klove," Lord Yosho said mildly. "I believe you will find killing us to be more than you can handle." "Boasts from an old man! A runaway! A renegade who could not hold the reins of power! A coward! The worthless offspring of a degenerate family of despots! You will die last, Yosho, and not until you first kiss my feet!" "That is a rather unappetizing proposition," Lord Yosho said, showing not the slightest flicker of response at the harsh taunts. "I believe I will decline." Tris laughed. Tenchi said, "You tell him, Grandfather!" "Laugh...at me?" The metallic voice radiated demonic outrage. "Oh, I will give you something to laugh about! It is time to show you-- show you the horror that you will die laughing at!" Abruptly Ayeka's eyes closed. She collapsed onto the grass. "Ayeka!" Tenchi sprinted toward her prone form. "Tenchi—-don't!" Washuu cried. "Come back, sweetums!" Ryoko cried, too. She became airborne and streaked after him. "Shall we join the Princess?" Lord Yosho calmly asked the others. "But, Grandpa..." Washuu began to object. "Oh, Professor Klove has left Ayeka. She is alive and well, Sasami, don't worry. I feel his malignant presence a distance away from her now. No doubt, he still is tapped into her vitality, but we can approach her with safety, I believe." "Ohhhh—-if only that horrible thing has left her!" Sasami exclaimed prayerfully. Washuu brought up her translucent console. She tapped at the keyboard. "Hey, you're right, Grandpa! I only detect a slight blip of a foreign presence in Ayeka. That must be the tap he has into her, to suck out her life force and her Jurai power. If I only had time to analyze that transmission and break that link...it's more than brain wave projections, I know that much now." "That is likely the reason Professor Klove has attacked us so precipitously," Lord Yosho said. "With your new invention, you were getting too close to an effective defense, Professor Washuu, and perhaps even an effective counter-measure. Professor Klove had to attack us now before you advanced further in your experiments." "Yeah, I see that now, Grandpa," Washuu said. "By the way, it turns out Klove has more in mind than just killing us." "Indeed?" Lord Yosho queried. "Oh, yeah." Washuu proceeded to inform Lord Yosho of Klove's scheme to ignite a galactic civil war. Lord Yosho's lips tightened. He shook his head. "I feared Professor Klove had higher aspirations than merely taking his revenge on us. He has finally exposed his hand. Now let us see about the Princess." With that, Yosho walked toward the spot where Princess Ayeka lay. The others followed him. Tenchi and Ryoko were already there. "What were you thinking, idiot?" Kiyone asked Tris, one arm wound around him as they walked together. "Standing below me! So you could get killed, too?" "Yup," Tris said. "That's about it." "Idiot! Goofball! Clown!" Kiyone snapped at him. Her expression softened. "Darling!" She snuggled against him. "Isn't that romantic?" Sasami asked happily, following the couple. The news that Klove had left Ayeka had buoyed the little Princess's spirits. "Uh-huh," Mihoshi agreed, walking alongside Sasami. "Do you think we'll ever have boyfriends who will do things like that for us?" "Sure we will! Just wait!" "I have been waiting," Mihoshi said dolefully. "I've been waiting a long time, it seems to me..." A distance ahead, Tenchi was bent over, examining Ayeka. She lay still and silent on the grass, eyes closed, her face tranquil, her bosom rising and falling, slowly. "She seems to be just asleep," he said, surprised. "Hah!" Ryoko said skeptically, hovering above Tenchi. "Don't touch her! She probably has Klove cooties!" "Klove cooties?" Tenchi asked. "You know, from having that Klove guy in her. Cooties!" "Don't be silly! She's unconscious, but I don't think Klove's still got her," Tenchi mused. He reached down and gently stroked Ayeka's pale face. "Ayeka? Can you hear me?" The Princess just lay there, eyes closed, softly breathing. "Jeeze, she's gotta be out of it," Ryoko said. "Otherwise she'd be all over you by now, sweetums." Tenchi was going to reply when he sensed the others walking up to them. He rose. Washuu gently eased him aside and knelt down by the prone form of Ayeka. She gently opened one of the Princess's eyelids. "Eye glassy, with some reddening of the cornea," she reported. "The eye is moving in the socket aimlessly." "Sounds like too much sake to me," Ryoko commented, still hovering just above Tenchi. Tenchi reached up and grabbed Ryoko. With a strong heave, he pulled her down to Earth. Ryoko settled on the ground beside him. "Be quiet now," he told her firmly. "Yes, sweetums," Ryoko said. Her golden eyes were round as they stared at Tenchi. He almost never did that to her. He had to be very upset. "Sounds more like a deep hypnotic trance. What do you say, Tris?" Washuu asked, rising from Ayeka's supine form. "That sounds right on the money," Tris replied. "The Princess is still in the power of Professor Klove, I fear," Lord Yosho said. "She will remain in his power, unconscious to us. He will continue draining her of her vitality and her Jurai power--unless we can stop him." The Juraian Prince's face was grim. "So the Princess is just a great big battery to power whatever toy that Klove creep is planning to spring on us," Ryoko said, unable to keep quiet. "Good thing she's out cold-—she'd be hopping mad!" "Oh...Ayeka..." Sasami stared forlornly down at her big sister. Despite her extraordinary competence, Sasami was still a little girl and her big sister was her guiding light, her firm and fond teacher, the strong, sensible woman Sasami loved and could always depend on. Seeing her like this was crushing. Sasami's hopeful feelings vanished. She felt lost and helpless. Mihoshi knelt down and embraced Sasami, who sagged against her. Tears quietly flowed from Mihoshi's blue eyes as she surveyed the unconscious Princess. Tris, watching them, stifled a crack he was going to make that Tenchi ought to try kissing the Princess to wake her up. Truly, Ayeka was a Sleeping Beauty, but the evil one responsible for her state had more than just a poisoned apple in his arsenal. Standing beside him, still holding his arm, Kiyone demanded, "Well, where's Klove now? What's he up to? How come this...well, this intermission?" "Washuu?" Tenchi prompted. The great scientist opened her translucent console. "He's about fifty yards from us, still dematerialized obviously," she reported, staring into the screen of the console. "I can't tell you why he's not attacking us, Kiyone. All I can guess is that he's going through whatever processes he needs to go through to materialize and then hit us with everything he's got." "What he's got isn't that much," Ryoko said confidently. "He caught me off-guard once, the creep, but he won't again." "I don't know," Washuu said, still staring into the console's screen. "Like I said before, he knows all about the power we command, including Sword Tenchi, and he isn't worried. It's not bravado. He really isn't intimidated by anything we have in our knapsack." Washuu punched some touchpads on the console's keyboard. "He said what he's got can't be beaten by anything in this dimension. That suggests he's discovered a new dimension, or at least a new sub-dimension. That could be bad." "How so, Washuu?" Tenchi asked. "If he somehow can use his mind power to conjure something to fight us from another dimension, that something will operate within the rules and limits of its own dimension," Washuu explained. "Our weapons won't have the same effect on it, probably, as they would on something from this dimension--but its weapons will have their full effect on us, since we are in our own dimension, where fire will burn us and knives will cut us, and so on." Washuu shook her head with frank admiration. "If Klove has managed to project his mind into some undiscovered dimension and then make it materialize as a palpable entity in this dimension...well, I hate to admit it, but he is a genius. I'd take my hat off to him, if I had a hat." "You'd take your head off to him, you mean!" Ryoko snapped. "Stuff your admiration! So that's the situation, huh? We can only shoot spitballs at him and he can hurl boulders at us? That stinks, Washuu!" "I'm only theorizing, Ryoko. I don't know for sure," Washuu replied a bit irritably. "Yeah, but when it's something bad, your theories are usually right, Washuu," Kiyone pointed out. She left Tris and went over to Mihoshi and Sasami. She gently disengaged Mihoshi from the little Princess. "We've got to be ready to call in Yogami and board her, partner. Stand here by me." "Yes, Kiyone." Mihoshi straightened and stood quietly beside Kiyone. They both held onto their blasters. They looked so incongruous in their faded work shirts and leg-revealing short-shorts—-and barefoot, to boot—-while holding their deadly weapons that even Sasami felt like smiling, a little. Any urge to smile faded when she regarded her prone and unconscious big sister, however. "I have the greatest confidence in our Jurai power and Sword Tenchi, the nexus of that power," Lord Yosho said quietly. He examined the golden hilt in his hand. Tris did, too. It was surprising to him that Sword Tenchi had no blade. Then he remembered that the blade was a pure energy force and only appeared in combat, according to Tenchi. The hilt seemed to have metallic scales worked into it, as if it were from a lizard...or a dragon. It was impressive, blade or no blade. "This supreme weapon has defeated the most powerful evil in the galaxy--my former comrade, Kagato. But even Kagato was of this dimension. I hope you are wrong in your theories this time, Professor Washuu. I sincerely hope you are." "Why, Grandfather?" Tenchi asked, concerned. "Can't we fight anything, anywhere, and win?" "In this world, this galaxy, yes, Tenchi." Lord Yosho nodded. "But something from another dimension...we cannot know, grandson. As long as good and evil are the same in that dimension, good will prevail." "All this talk about dimensions," Tris mused. "I wonder what possible dimension that Klove guy could be using? I thought you already plumbed out the only extra dimension, Washuu, for the Grand Baths and your lab." "So did I, cutie. But I could have been wrong. I sure didn't know about the true power of the subconscious and the possibility of mastering it," Washuu acknowledged somewhat dispiritedly. "This hasn't been my finest hour, I'll admit—-" "This is your final hour, hag!" A voice, deep and booming, rent the air. "I have enjoyed listening to your fumbling attempts to discern what my genius has wrought. But I grow impatient. You are even stupider than I thought, Washuu! Now...behold your doom!" "I think the intermission's over," Tris called over to Kiyone. Before she could reply, the air suddenly seemed to sparkle and surge with electricity—-electricity that sent flaring sparklers cracking all around them. Everyone (aside from Lord Yosho) ducked, although the bright strands of energy didn't come near them. Those shards of brilliance instead centered on a spot some fifty yards away. The sparklers all seemed to meet and merge into a blinding mass of pure, eye-searing incandescence. The whole world now appeared enveloped in a white, glaring flood of light. They all turned their heads from the blinding whiteness. That light suddenly blinked out. A laugh of pure, blood-chilling malevolence rent the air. Tris, along with the others, turned to look at the source of that demonic laugh. Instantly, Tris wished he hadn't looked. Professor Klove—-or at least the living projection of his subconscious mind, animated by Princess Ayeka's Jurai power--loomed before them. Laughing. Towered before them, actually, for it was at least twenty feet tall-- although "tall" seemed too definite an adjective for the seething, squirming, glistening horror that confronted them. As big as a house--seemingly as big as the Masaki house—-the entity appeared to be composed of oozing, pulsating, squirming gelatin of a particularly hideous flesh-tone color. That gelatinous mass constantly shifted, liquidly, the whole of it glistening with a mucous-like sheen. Long, serrated green tendrils shot out from it like tentacles, tendrils that seemed long enough to almost reach the small group that stood watching it some fifty yards away. All around the entity the very air seemed to shimmer unnaturally. In the midst of the oozing, pulsating, sickening mass, a great eyeball, yellow with bulging red veins and a coal-black iris, glared at them. The effect was so dreadful that all of them—-Lord Yosho included—- simply stood rooted to the spot, as if unable to take their eyes off the ghastly horror that squirmed and pulsated before them. Tris felt the very hair on his head rise with terror—-a cold ball of ice replaced his stomach. The others seemed similarly affected. What they were all staring at was no creature from the Earth, nor from any planet in the galaxy. It was the very essence of the stark fear that tortured souls in the dead of night, the nightmare creature, the nameless monster that stalked persons imprisoned in sleep. But this was no dream, no figment of a nightmare. It was there, in the oozing flesh, before them now. And it meant to kill them just as horribly as it could. Ironically, it was the least powerful of them, the young American, who broke the stunned silence. "I've seen ugly," he said. His voice shook with fear. "I've seen butt-ugly. But this is the ugliest mofo I've ever seen! Christ!" "What the hell is it?" demanded Ryoko. The space pirate's face had blanched with shock. She had never encountered anything so horrible in all her tempestuous life. "It's Professor Klove," Washuu said, her voice awed. "It's his mind- projection, somehow made solid with the Princess's power. Holy cats! He did do it! What a discovery! What an achievement!" "Do you think...this is what all those poor people saw before they were killed?" Kiyone asked, her voice quavering. "There can be no doubt of that, Detective," Lord Yosho replied. As always, he spoke calmly. "This is what slaughtered those innocents and caused so much destruction. Now, of course, it is infinitely more powerful, fueled by Princess Ayeka's Jurai power." "And we have to fight...that?" Mihoshi, trying to be as brave as Kiyone, asked apprehensively. "Yes, Mihoshi," Tenchi replied, the hushed tone in his voice betraying his disquiet. "We have to fight it. And win. We have no choice." "But how can we fight it?" Sasami asked fearfully. "It has my sister's power." "We just have to, Sasami." Tenchi shook himself roughly, trying to throw off the freezing horror of the huge, bloated nightmare before him. "We know what will happen if we don't. Not only our deaths, but perhaps the deaths of millions--billions--in a galactic civil war." "Well spoken, grandson," Lord Yosho said approvingly. "It is our duty...and our honor." "Frankly, sir, I can do without the honor," Tris said. He couldn't take his eyes off the thing. It froze the very marrow of his bones to look at it, but he couldn't help it. "Shut up, Tris," Tenchi said, not unkindly. "And just stand back. Look after Sasami. That'll be your contribution to this fight." "Right-o," Tris muttered, a bit abashed. It was his shocked reaction to the entity that had caused him to say such a stupid thing. One simply did not joke about honor around the Japanese...nor around Juraian Princes, either. It was only Tenchi's deep friendship with him that stopped the former from saying something harsher. Then Tris felt a small hand slip into his hand. He looked down. Sasami smiled up at him. "We'll look after each other, Tris," the little Princess said. "Okay," Tris said, smiling also. Standing beside Mihoshi, Kiyone felt her heart go out to Tris. It had to be awful to be just a target and unable to contribute to the fight. She wished she had an extra blaster to give him. "Well, before we start this big brawl," Washuu said dryly, "let me point out something. See that sort of shimmering halo around that thing? That's the instability of two dimensions interacting. Klove's using some sort of buffer between them--an inter-dimensional buffer. That's proof positive that this thing is coming in from another dimension. And that's what I was afraid of. Keep in mind what I said about our weapons possibly not being all that effective against it." "Thanks a heap, Washuu!" Ryoko snapped at her. "Any more good news before we proceed to kick its butt?" "Nope." Washuu smiled apologetically. "I think that's enough good news, don't you?" Ryoko just glared at her and rose into the air. She shouted over at the entity that squatted in the distance, waving its tendrils, its pulpy mass squirming and pulsating, its huge yellow eye blazing at them. "Hey! Ugly! You wanna rumble? I'm just the gal you're looking for!" A reverberating liquid sound issued from the entity. It was a laugh—- a laugh from the bowels of hell. "Well, it's got a sense of humor, anyway," Tris noted. Somehow the weak joke had a beneficial effect. The others, including Lord Yosho, chuckled. It did not lessen their horrified reaction to the nightmare creature they faced, but it helped, a little. "Think that's funny, huh?" Ryoko grinned dangerously at the entity, still airborne. "Well, I have something to tickle your funny bone, Ugly." She raised one arm. Suddenly a thin beam of light shot out from both sides of her extended fist. That light quickly formed into the hilt and blade of a sword. It was Ryoko's own energy sword. Tris stared at it, amazed. "That's slick, Ryoko!" he called up to her. Ryoko smiled down at him. "Thanks, goofball. Now get ready to cheer!" Carrying her gleaming energy sword, the platinum-haired space pirate streaked toward the huge, pulpy, pulsating mass, the mind-projection of Professor Klove made flesh. "Ryoko!" Tenchi yelled. "Wait! Don't use your sword—-don't get so close to it--!" But Ryoko just waved her free hand dismissively at Tenchi as she zoomed in for the kill. She rocketed right at the huge, gelatinous mass, raising her hand carrying the dazzling sword, got close enough to bring the blade down on the entity—- Suddenly, a tendril lashed out and struck Ryoko. A blinding flash enveloped the space pirate for an blazing instant. Ryoko screamed with pain. She tumbled in the air, away from the entity. The energy sword disappeared from her grasp. The same tendril now snapped like a whip. A glowing green globule spurted from the tip of the tendril. It almost hit the tumbling figure of the space pirate. The glob hit the grass, instead. A soaring white flame shot up where the glob impacted. When it dissipated, the ground where the green globule had landed was scorched, with a sizeable crater left behind. "Jeeze! That's some powerful glop!" Washuu noted, impressed. "Ryoko!" Tenchi yelled fearfully. But the space pirate seemed to regain her senses and stopped her wild plummet. She slowly floated down to hover above her friends. Her platinum hair was in disarray, and her tight, red and white striped sheath dress was torn in spots. Again, the air shook with the hellish laughter of the entity. It seemed content to let its enemies come to it. It also seemed supremely confident. "Old Ugly over there sure packs a punch!" Ryoko smiled uncertainly down at them. "Ryoko! You're hurt!" Tenchi said anxiously. "Aw, just a scratch, sweetums," Ryoko told him lovingly. "You sure?" "Sure I'm sure! I'm fine!" "You're fine because that energy globule didn't hit you," Washuu told her. She was staring at the screen of her translucent console, tapping industriously at the keyboard. "It's some sort of pure, corrosive plasma, a plasma that will dissolve just about anything it touches. The stuff breaks protons and neutrons into their subcomponents--quarks and gluons. It sure made a hell of a dent in the real estate! That big blob's got the Jurai power all right. You'll have to fight it without getting caught up in its tendrils, Ryoko, or getting hit by that flying glop. Forget about using your energy sword." "That's right, Ryoko," Tenchi told her. "Just use your force beams and your fireballs. Don't get too close to it!" "Yes, sweetums." Ryoko smiled at him tenderly. "I'll do just that because you tell me to. That make three kisses you own me when this is all over." "It's not over yet, Ryoko," Washuu reminded her. "You'd better get Ryo-Ohki into starship mode." "Right!" Ryoko nodded. "She and I'll zap old Ugly! We'll melt it into a pile of crud. Just watch!" "Meow-er!" the cabbit, now sitting at Tenchi's feet, agreed with her mistress. "We'll join the battle too, in Yogami," Kiyone added. "All of us fighting together will take that blob down." "Yeah!" Mihoshi nodded her blonde head. "That nasty old thing is going down!" "Hey—-no way, you two!" Ryoko said angrily. "You just stay put." "Huh?" Kiyone asked, surprised. "If all three of us start darting around fighting that thing, we're sure to hit each other," Ryoko told her. "I'm going to move like greased lightening around that blob. Ryo-Ohki and I have fought together a long time—-she can anticipate any move I make and keep from firing where I'm at. But with you two blundering around in that cop ship of yours, I could get one of your quasar beam cannon blasts up my butt! No thanks!" "Blundering around! Ryoko—-how dare you--!" Kiyone's face flamed. "Aren't you two the ones who fired a warning shot at a ship and hit it instead?" Ryoko countered. "Hey, Ryoko—-that's not nice!" Mihoshi protested. "And it's not fair, either! That was an accident!" "Well, I don't want to have an "accident," too," Ryoko told her. "Ryoko," Tenchi intervened, "what happened before really was an accident. And "blundering" is no way to talk about—-" "Okay, okay, I withdraw that word," Ryoko said testily. "But I'm still right. We gotta move fast around that thing to avoid those tentacles and those globs. With three of us, we'll probably shoot ourselves more than old Ugly there. Come on, Kiyone, stuff your hurt feelings! I'm right...aren't I, sweetums?" Ryoko appealed to Tenchi. Tenchi looked at Kiyone and nodded. "She's right, Kiyone. You four have never fought together like this and now is no time to practice!" The teal-haired Galaxy Police officer's face was still etched in anger. She didn't acknowledge Tenchi's comment. "Look, Kiyone," Ryoko argued a bit less brusquely now. "Ryo-Ohki and I should be enough to settle old Ugly's hash. If we're not...then you replace whoever drops out first. That make sense?" Kiyone looked at Ryoko and at Tenchi. Then, for some reason, she looked over at Tris. He nodded, his face grave. This was a deadly serious situation and no time for bruised egos. "Okay, I can see what you mean, Ryoko. We'll act as back-up. But Mihoshi and I will transport now into Yogami, just to be ready." "Okay, whatever," Ryoko said distractedly. She looked at Tenchi. "Sweetums, toss Ryo-Ohki into the air, okay? Time to flatten that blob!" Tenchi nodded. He bent over and scooped up the cabbit. With a fluid motion, he tossed the furry little animal into the air. Ryo-Ohki immediately flattened herself out. Her long ears stiffened into wings. The cabbit soared upward into the heavens. Then—- Ryo-Ohki seemed to unravel. Huge, grayish panels shot out from the cabbit, panels that interlocked and produced more panels. Suddenly, the little cabbit was a huge structure floating in the air. More and more panels appeared and joined together, seamlessly. Now the fuselage of the ship was complete. Huge, sharply pointed wings and fins protruded from the fuselage. In a way, the whole structure almost reminded Tris of Ryoko's own spiky hair style. At the top, a pink transparent bubble appeared, the ship's cockpit and bridge. In less time than it takes to relate, Ryo-Ohki was a starship, massive, huge, soaring...and a pirate ship too. Staring at it in wonderment, Tris thought he had never seen a more aggressive-looking vessel in his life. It bristled with sharp points and jagged edges. It definitely meant business...pirate business. The fact that this deadly ship evolved from cute little Ryo-Ohki was mind-boggling. "Pretty impressive, huh, Tris?" Tenchi asked, noting his friend's stunned reaction. "Pretty amazing...hey, sorry about that crack earlier." "Forget about it. We'll all a little shaken up." Now, besides Ryo-Ohki, the sky was filled with the sleek red form of Kiyone and Mihoshi's Galaxy Police cruiser, the Yogami. Kiyone had just summoned it with her earring. "Wish us luck, Tris, everyone!" Tris heard Kiyone's voice. "Yeah! Wish us luck!" That was Mihoshi's voice. Tris turned from where he had stood watching the sky. Kiyone and Mihoshi waved to him. They were suddenly enveloped in the bright transport beam. Seconds later, their forms rose, up, up, to the belly of the Yogami. They disappeared into it and the transport beam blinked out. Tris felt a lump in his throat as he watched the Yogami now soar higher in the sky and hover, staging herself for the battle. He wondered suddenly if he would ever see Kiyone again. If the powers his friends possessed weren't effective enough against that entity from another dimension, chances were that none of them would survive this day. He shivered, suddenly feeling very cold. Yet the battle was just heating up. Suddenly, the entity snapped another tendril at them. A green glowing globule hurtled their way. They all ducked, except for Lord Yosho. The globule plowed into the sod about ten yards from them, burst into white-hot flame, and left another charred hole in the ground. "Grandfather...?" Tenchi asked, rising. "Professor Klove is merely toying with us," Lord Yosho said. "He will not attack us seriously with that weapon when we are so near the Princess. He does not want to destroy his source of power--and he likely doesn't want to have to fight the Princess's Guardians, either, if he can avoid it. With her Guardians still intact when the authorities find our...remains...it will reinforce the belief that Princess Ayeka attacked us." Azaka II and Kamidake II rose from their positions a distance away. They flew over to where Princess Ayeka lay unconscious. The two wooden cylinders settled on the lawn close beside her. They blinked with agitation, but stayed put. "Damn!" Ryoko said, still hovering in the air. "If old Ugly had only thrown that glob a little closer to the Princess, those Guardians would have...well, he knows better, I guess. Sweetums, you and Lord Yosho and Washuu and Sasami and the goofball better stay near Ayeka. You won't be in danger that way." "Yes, Ryoko, but we cannot stay here forever," Lord Yosho said. "Besides, my son-in-law may return any minute. We must battle Professor Klove now and defeat him." "That's right, Grandpa," Washuu agreed. "That big blob may be able to move. If so, it can just come a lot closer to us and then it can't miss with its weapons. If it gets close enough, it can just grab each of us with those tentacle things—-you all saw what they did to Ryoko." "Exactly," Lord Yosho agreed. "Ryoko, you and Ryo-Ohki take the battle to Professor Klove's creation. When the entity is sufficiently distracted, it will be time to employ Sword Tenchi." "I'm ready, Grandfather," Tenchi told him. Lord Yosho turned to his grandson. He smiled proudly. "I know you are, Tenchi. You are indeed ready. However...I will indulge in a bit of selfishness. I shall take what Tristram would call the first crack at Professor Klove." Tenchi nodded. "Of course, Honorable Grandfather." He bowed. Lord Yosho, Shinto priest and Prince of Jurai, returned the bow. He raised Sword Tenchi. Suddenly, a blue-white flame spurted from the golden hilt he held in his hand. The flame soared, briefly, then contracted. It now resembled a sword blade, fiery and fearsome. This was the Jurai power in all of its glory. "All right!" Ryoko shouted. "We'll give that blob hell, Lord Yosho, and you fillet it!" She streaked away, headed toward the entity. With a strangely echoing version of her meow, Ryo-Ohki, the pirate starship, jetted after her. The entity's yellow eyeball followed the progress of the space pirate and her starship. There was intelligence, keen intelligence, radiating from the black, glistening pupil. Suddenly it snapped a tendril. Ryoko dodged, and the tendril missed. It snapped another tendril at Ryo-Ohki. It missed again. "Missed us, Ugly!" Ryoko laughed with glee. "Now here's something from me to you!" Ryoko quickly passed her hands together. A red, glowing ball of proton power formed between her hands. She literally rolled the glowing ball at the entity. The fireball struck it, sending flashing shards into the air. The entity shuddered. "How'd that taste, Ugly?" Ryoko taunted. "Was it good? I'm glad! I've got more for you, piping hot!" At the same time, Ryo-Ohki dodged in close to the entity. Glowing force beams radiated searingly from her flaring wings. The force beams struck the entity, and it shuddered again. "Hit it again, Ryo-Ohki!" Ryoko shouted. Again and again, Ryo-Ohki darted in at blurring speed, avoiding the snapping tendrils, firing force beams at the entity. A low rumbling issued from the pulsating mass. It sounded like a bellow of rage. Ryoko laughed and rolled two more fireballs into the entity. The mind monster of Professor Klove shuddered and snapped and snapped its tendrils at its tormentors with seemingly impotent fury. Watching all this, Tris had an inspiration. "Hit that big blob in the eye, Ryoko!" he shouted. "Yeah!" Tenchi shouted too, enthused. "Blind it, Ryoko! Then it won't be able to see Grandfather coming!" Ryoko evidently heard Tenchi and Tris, for she waved a hand in their direction. Then she zoomed closer to the entity. Ryo-Ohki, noting her actions, jetted to the blob's opposite side and kept blasting it with force beams. "That's the way to do it!" Tris grinned. "Put its eye out! It's worked in practically every monster movie I ever saw!" "That's why they're movies," Washuu commented skeptically. "I doubt if Klove would leave himself so vulnerable." Ryoko, jetting so close to the mind monster that she was in danger of being stuck again by its flailing tendrils, now rolled fireball after fireball in the direction of its yellow eye. It was not an easy target, as the eye floated all over the blubbery mass. But, finally, a fireball smacked it, flaringly. Everyone held their breath...and then let out their breath in disappointment. As soon as the fireball struck the entity's eyeball, that enormous orb instantly glazed over with a transparent sheen of mucous. An instant later, the eyeball was clear of the slimy coating and apparently none the worse for wear. "Told you." Washuu shook her head. "We're not going to defeat that blob easily. That Klove character is too clever to allow any obvious Achilles heel like that in his creation." "That is correct, I fear," Lord Yosho agreed. "Professor Klove has planned all of this too well for that." "Rats!" Tris muttered. "I wish this was a damned movie and I could go get some popcorn and not come back." "Forget the eyeball, Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted. "Just keep that thing busy!" Ryoko waved another acknowledgement and swooped in to attack the mind monster again, Ryo-Ohki following in her wake. Washuu frowned. "Ryoko's fireballs and Ryo-Ohki's force beams should be doing more visible damage to that thing. Much more. Even its eye isn't vulnerable to Ryoko's fireballs. That confirms it--nothing we hit it with is going to be as potent as it would be against a creature of this dimension. That is definitely a problem." And that, judging from Washuu's grim demeanor, was definitely an understatement. "Yes," Lord Yosho agreed. "That is a problem. But if the attacks by Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki can distract the entity until I can reach it, we can hope that Sword Tenchi will slay it, regardless of what dimension it comes from." "Sure, Grandpa," Washuu said ironically. "All you have to do is get close enough to use Sword Tenchi before that blob fries you to a crisp or dismembers you." "Again, that depends on the quality of the distraction, Professor Washuu." Lord Yosho smiled slightly. "From what I can see, that quality is high." It was, indeed. Ryoko fought magnificently. She teleported to and fro, first one place, then another, a persistent, agile bird of prey that attacked and evaded the tendrils of the quivering blobby mass that was Professor Klove's nightmare creation. As she had predicted, Ryo-Ohki matched her actions perfectly, zooming in and out to harass the entity in tandem with her mistress. It was perfect teamwork. Along with forming and rolling blazingly powerful fireballs into the entity's blubbery side, fireballs that burst and spread raging proton fire along its gelatinous skin, Ryoko alternately threw out her hands--and searing red and blue beams blasted from the tips of her outstretched fingers. These were the mighty force beams that both she and Princess Ayeka generated, force beams so immensely powerful that they could stop an intercontinental ballistic missile in mid- flight and pulverize it, simultaneously. The beams slammed into the mind monster like lightening bolts, making the blob undulate with agony. Watching Ryoko fight, Tris gained a huge appreciation of what a supremely powerful being she was. Some goddesses in Greek mythology didn't posses as much power as the space pirate. The flurry of fireballs and force beams, delivered at blinding speed by a being who flew and teleported almost faster than the eye could record, backed up by her furiously firing cabbit-pirate ship, comprised the ultimate light show and generated an outpouring of stupendous destructive power that would have quickly vaporized practically any opponent from this dimension. Yet, as Washuu had stated, the entity, the mind monster of Professor Klove, was truly not of this dimension. Different physical laws protected it from being destroyed by the one-two punch of Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki. Certainly the fireballs and force beams made a strong impression on it, causing the squirming, gelatinous mass to shake and quiver with each blazing attack. But those same fireballs and force beams only scorched the surface or sank deep into the gooey mass but did not penetrate it. In a way, it resembled punching a sponge rubber pillow...lots of reaction, but no vital damage. Seemingly in response to this, Ryoko and Ryo-ohki stepped up the pace, darting and diving at the entity, alternately dodging its snapping tendrils and occasional flying green globules--and then pouring on the force beams and fireballs. It was a terrific battle, punctuated by the blinding flashes of the fireballs hitting home, the thunder of the force beams smacking that obscene blubbery mass, and the wild echoing of Ryo-Ohki's meows, the cabbit-pirate starship now filled with fighting rage. Tris watched in awe. He was witnessing the most terrific and incredible display of power and fighting imagineable, an unparallel spectacle he would retain in his memory all his life. "You ugly blob! You filthy snot-ball! Baby killer! You want to fight me? I'll roast your hide!" Ryoko was all but screaming with bloodlust. Despite her obvious aggravation at not making a deeper dent in the mind monster, Ryoko did not forget her primary task was to keep it distracted sufficiently to allow Lord Yosho to employ Sword Tenchi. She laughed tauntingly at the big blob, yelled insults at it, and rolled fireballs and shot force beams into the creature, causing it to shudder and squirm with what she hoped was pain. The entity kept snapping its tendrils at her and kept hitting empty air. Meanwhile, like a hyper-fast hummingbird, Ryo-Ohki kept darting in and out, firing force beams into the jelly belly of the gooey mind monster. The entity also snapped its remaining tendrils at the cabbit-pirate ship, again with no effect. It didn't discharge any more of the green plasma globules, obviously not wanting to accidentally hit the unconscious Princess with a stray shot. Clearly, it would only use that weapon when it was certain it would hit its target or at least wouldn't hit the Princess. To add to its woes, the one-eyed horror was obliged to try to keep both attacking enemies in focus, a task it obviously found quite daunting. It was now making a new noise, one that could be interpreted as a frustrated grunt. "Lord Yosho?" Sasami asked as the small group continued to observe Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki battle the entity. "Yes, Sasami?" "I think I know what that thing is," she said, hesitantly. She had been studying the blobby mass with the huge, glaring eye for a little while now. "I kind of recognize it." "Recognize it?" Tenchi turned to her. "Yes, Tenchi. It's just like the awful creature that attacked Ayeka in her dreams. You know...those bad dreams." "The dreams she had as a child and again just recently?" Tris asked. "Uh-huh. Ayeka described them to me in detail. This thing looks just like what she described." Sasami nodded her pigtailed head. "I'm sure of it." "Thank you, Sasami," Lord Yosho said. "That may prove quite significant." "Well, that makes sense, Sasami, since Klove is mentally projecting all this—-he created the bad dreams for Ayeka as well as for the other students back then..." Washuu's voice trailed off. Then she straightened up from where she had been bending over her console. "Of course! That's it! You may have just cleared up a point, Sasami—-a damned important point!" "Really?" Sasami asked. "Maybe. Just maybe. I've been wondering—-you all have, too—-what dimension this thing comes from. Well, if it's exactly like the monster from the Princess's dreams, and Klove is creating it mentally, well..." Washuu frowned with concentration. "Maybe there is a Dream Dimension--a parallel reality the mind enters when dreaming. This monster is from Klove's subconscious, where's he's operating from. He's brought it into our reality, our dimension--yeah! That would explain it! This blob is from the dimension of dreams! A nightmare creature from a literal Dream Dimension! That dimension is what Klove was talking about, I'll bet! Thanks, Sasami!" Washuu's face glowed with the satisfaction of discovery. "You're welcome, Washuu," Sasami replied, not certain of what she had really contributed. "You're telling us," Tenchi queried, "that when we dream we actually enter another dimension?" "That's my theory," Washuu said. "Dimensions are more than just space and time and mass. They're also a function of perceived reality. The mind creates a separate reality in dreaming. If the dream or dreamer is powerful enough, whole universes can be formed, or at least a separate reality operating in its own plane. I think Klove found a way to project his mind, his subconscious, into that seperate reality, force it into our dimension, our reality, and use the energy of others to make his mind projection become material. That's a quantum leap, all right. No wonder Klove went to such lengths to keep his discovery to himself." Sasami shook her head, amazed. All of this...from her big sister's seemingly inconsequential bad dreams. "And no wonder he became a man apart from other men," Lord Yosho commented. "Such knowledge would make a person not overburdened with morality quite intoxicated with power. He might feel almost god-like." "Almost, sir?" Tris said ironically. "You know, that also explains something else," Washuu added. "It explains why I couldn't pick up that Presence with all my probes and scans. It was traveling across space all right, but it was using the portal to that Dream Dimension. It wasn't using any of the known transmission media. That's why I couldn't detect it." "Washuu," Tenchi said, his eyes, like everyone else's, glued on Ryoko's and Ryo-Ohki's fast and furious hit-and-run attacks on the entity. "Now that we know that...what do we do?" "Ummm...well, nothing, Tenchi," Washuu admitted. "It doesn't help us right now. It just clears up a nagging point." "Any enlightenment is welcome, Professor Washuu," Lord Yosho assured her. He held Sword Tenchi tightly. He was poised to make his run to the entity when it seemed sufficiently distracted. Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki were really harassing the entity now. In fact, Ryo-Ohki was zooming in closer and closer to the entity, drawing most of its attention--and thus having to avoid its lightning-quick tendril snaps and possible discharges of those plasma globules. "Ryo-Ohki is getting a bit too close to Professor Klove's creation, I'm afraid," he warned. "I'll say she is!" Tenchi exclaimed. "Ryoko! Tell Ryo-Ohki to back off!" Ryoko heard Tenchi's shout. She stopped in mid-delivery of a fireball and saw the danger. "Ryo-Ohki!" she shouted. "Look out—-" Too late. Ryo-Ohki, who didn't have her mistress's ability to teleport, couldn't get away from the entity's snapping tendrils this time. Two of the tendrils struck the cabbit-pirate ship, rocking it. Instantly, the ship's force shields buckled. Another tendril slashed. Ryo-Ohki's surprised and pained meow echoed loudly. Then the entity discharged a green plasma globule that skimmed Ryo-Ohki's undercarriage. Flame flared beneath the cabbit-pirate ship. Ryo-Ohki's now agonized meow was heart-rending to hear. She wobbled and began to try to attack again. But her speed was greatly reduced and smoke erupted along her flanks. "Ryo-Ohki!" Ryoko yelled, her voice distraught. "No!" "God!" Tenchi groaned. "Got her right amidships!" Washuu gasped. "Poor Ryo-Ohki!" Sasami cried. "Get out of there, Ryo-Ohki!" Tris yelled. Lord Yosho said nothing. The entity was fully engaged in trying to both finish off Ryo-Ohki and to keep flailing at Ryoko. He grieved for the brave cabbit. But he had his own job to do. It was now or never. The elder Juraian Prince ran. Holding Sword Tenchi with its fiery blade aloft, he sprinted toward the huge, loathsome, blobby mass. His speed was spectacular and he made a beeline to his enemy. He knew he must make the shortest trip possible, to get within striking range, before the entity could notice him. Ryoko herself didn't notice Lord Yosho's run toward the entity. All she had eyes for at the moment was Ryo-Ohki. And she had heard Tris's shout. For once, she agreed with the goofball one hundred percent. "Ryo-Ohki!" she shouted. "Break off! Go back to the others! I command you!" No matter what, the space pirate would not allow Ryo- Ohki to fight when the cabbit no longer had sufficient means to protect herself. Without her shields, another attack from Klove might destroy her. Ryoko felt hot tears flow down her cheeks as she looked at the damage inflicted on her beloved Ryo-Ohki. The now-smoking, slightly rocking cabbit-pirate ship meowed in protest. Ryoko repeated her command. Ryo-Ohki could not oppose her mistress. She darted away from the entity and streaked to the ground. Quickly, the cabbit-pirate ship collapsed within itself. By the time it touched the ground, it was a furry little cabbit again--a cabbit whose fur still emitted a bit of smoke. Ryo-Ohki then scampered away. Lord Yosho had almost reached the mind monster. He was very close to it now. But with Ryo-Ohki no longer harrying it, the entity took a good look around with its huge yellow eye. It spotted Lord Yosho coming at it. Immediately, it began to snap tendril after tendril at the running figure, discharging glowing green plasma globules at it with deadly accuracy. At the same time, it kept snapping its other tendrils at Ryoko, keeping her at bay. Ryoko rolled in a few more fireballs that shook the entity, but didn't distract it from shelling Lord Yosho with the blazing green globules. The elder Juraian Prince stopped and kneeled. He used Sword Tenchi as a shield. The whirling force blade deflected the globules, one by one. But he was prevented from advancing further. Defeat was bitter in Yosho's mouth, but he kept his head. He tried to retreat, rapidly swinging Sword Tenchi, deflecting the steady barrage of green globules. Unfortunately, advancing to the rear and simultaneously trying to estimate the trajectory of the incoming globules would have taxed a modern weapons computer. As it was, Lord Yosho made it to within twenty feet of Tenchi and the others before a globule grazed his right side. He went down heavily, dropping Sword Tenchi. Again, what passed for laughter erupted from the mind monster. "Grandfather!" Tenchi cried, aghast. Behind him, Sasami wailed and Washuu cursed. Tris had no verbal comment. He was already sprinting for Lord Yosho. Now Tenchi cursed and followed him. "No! They'll all be killed!" Sasami cried helplessly. "Men!" Washuu said knowingly. "God help them!" Tenchi and Tris reached Lord Yosho together. Around the elder Juraian Prince were sizeable burned craters of what once had been soil and grass. The lawn was beginning to resemble a battlefield. Both young men had been forced to jump over some of the charred craters to get there. Tenchi grabbed Sword Tenchi and one of his grandfather's arms. Tris grabbed the other arm. They began to drag Lord Yosho back to the relative safety of the area occupied by the unconscious Princess Ayeka and her two Guardians. "I thought I told you to stay back with Sasami!" Tenchi yelled at Tris as they both dragged Lord Yosho. "You did! So what?" Tris snapped. "Damn it, when I tell you to do something, you do it!" "Like hell I will! Who made you the goddamn general?" Tris was panting a little from dragging Lord Yosho. Tenchi was also. Unnoticed by either of them, Lord Yosho smiled at their semi- hysterical arguing. It was gratifying to be reminded of how highly regarded one was. "I'll kick your ass for that!" Tenchi told Tris, panting. A blazing green glob whizzed overhead, but not close by. The entity was only harassing them, evidently quite satisfied to allow the retreat. "You can try any time!" Tris panted back. "Right after we get your grandfather to safety, if you want!" "Fine with me!" The two young men dragged Lord Yosho to where Sasami and Washuu stood awaiting them anxiously. Just behind them, Azaka II and Kamidake II, both still rooted beside the form of Princess Ayeka, watched the proceedings with mingled interest and concern. "I wish the Princess would wake from her slumber and order us to attack that creature," Azaka II said, considerably upset at being left out of the battle. "As do I. Perhaps she will awaken soon. It is not like her to sleep during the daylight hours," Kamidake II said. "Particularly with so much activity going on around her." But Princess Ayeka continued to sleep that unnatural sleep. Already, her face was losing its color. She was slowly drying so that the mind monster of Professor Klove could live and kill. The battle was also being observed from the Galaxy Police cruiser, the Yogami. "Well, Lord Yoshio is alive, anyway," Kiyone said, peering at her viewscreen. Her bald statement belied the intense relief in her voice. "Yes, that's wonderful--but I don't see Ryo-Ohki anywhere!" Mihoshi said, peering at her own viewscreen anxiously. "Oh, I hope the sweet little thing is okay!" "That sweet little thing took a hell of a beating," Kiyone noted. The two Galaxy Police officers were ensconced in their cockpit seats, keeping tabs on the Earth below through the viewscreens. Both still wore their work shirts and the blue jean short-shorts. Kiyone had dictated that they didn't have time to change into their uniforms, although she dearly wanted to. As a result, their blaster sidearms were stuck rather roughly into the waistbands of their short-shorts. It felt strange to Kiyone to be on the bridge, hunkered down in her cockpit seat with her legs and feet bare. But it wasn't uncomfortable and it didn't inhibit her actions and that was all that mattered. "Tenchi and Tris—-they're so brave!" Mihoshi said, her voice warm with affection. "They're so stupid!" Kiyone replied, but only half-heartedly. Her heart had been in her throat when she saw Tris run toward the fallen Lord Yosho. Now her heart sang as she saw that he and Tenchi had pulled Lord Yosho to the relative safety of the area immediately adjacent to Ayeka that the others occupied. Idiot boy! Idiot! But she knew now she wouldn't have him any other way. It was so damned unfair! Right when she was in love—-really in love—-with a boy and she had made up with her beloved brother—-that damned Klove attacked! He was going to pay for that in spades, she vowed. "Guess now it's our turn, huh, Kiyone?" Mihoshi said quietly. "Yes, partner. It's our turn." "Well..." Mihoshi smiled sadly. "If it doesn't turn out good...I'm glad you let me be your friend, Kiyone. I hope you haven't minded too much having me around all this time." Kiyone smiled at her partner, warmly and ironically. "Are you kidding? What could possibly be better than facing dismissal from the service and fighting a monster that will probably chew us up and spit us out? Don't be silly, ding-dong." "Oh, Kiyone..." Mihoshi sniffled. "Save the tears, partner. We're not dead yet!" Indeed, it turned out that no one was dead yet. Washuu finished examining Lord Yosho. "Yeuch...nice deep burn in your side, Grandpa. The only good thing about those green globs—- they burn, so they cauterize the wound." Her fingers softly prodded at the charred area beneath Lord Yosho's right armpit and the already closed flaps of skin at the entrance of the wound. His kimono was split all the way down his side, the edges charred and black. Fortunately, the globules were so caustic that they disintegrated the cloth, thereby preventing any of it from getting into the wound and possibly festering into blood poisoning. "Did the glop get deep into your body, do you think?" Lord Yosho shook his head. "No. I believe it did burn some muscle tissue, Professor Washuu." He might have been describing a mosquito bite, he was so calm and collected. "In addition to the pain, I am quite stiff on that side." "Well, no more sword play for you, Grandpa," Washuu said sternly. "A direct hit, and you'd be a cinder now. We'll have to wait before I can dress your wound. We're kinda stuck here for the time being, you know." Lord Yosho nodded. He was sitting up on the grass, not showing the intense pain of his third-degree burns. "I understand. I can wait, of course." "Thank goodness you're alive, Lord Yosho!" Sasami burst out, trembling with relief. "I...I thought that horrible thing had killed you!" She knelt next to Lord Yosho and began to softly wipe his perpiring brow with a silken handkerchief. "It takes a bit more than that to kill me, Princess Sasami." Lord Yosho smiled at her. Referring to her by her royal title was deliberate, a way to keep her spirits and courage up. Sasami looked away. "You should not call me that, Lord Yosho. If I truly were a princess, I could use my powers to help defeat that awful thing." "Your crowning will be the proper time for that," Lord Yosho told her gently. "You have the courage and the self-possession of a true princess. That is the most important thing." "Thank you...Lord Yosho," Sasami said, her voice breaking. She wept silently on Lord Yosho's shoulder for a moment while he gently stroked her head with one hand. Washuu watched this with a soft expression on her face. Then she regarded Tenchi and Tris, who were shaking hands. "Okay, blockhead, I guess I couldn't have gotten Grandfather here quite so quickly without your help," Tenchi admitted. "So if you want to get yourself killed—-have at it!" He grinned. "Gee, thanks, pal." Tris grinned back. "If you two guys are done male bonding, you might notice Ryoko is coming our way," Washuu told them. Tenchi and Tris looked up. Sure enough, Ryoko was hovering overhead. Her face was constricted with anxiety. "Tenchi!" she called. "Do you see Ryo-Ohki anywhere down there?" First, Tenchi glanced at the entity. The gelatinous mass just squatted in the distance, its great yellow eye contemplating them, shaking its tendrils. Of course, it was impossible for such a shapeless bulk to register an expression...but Tenchi could have sworn it looked entirely self-satisfied. Why not? It had won every round up to now. It seemed content to let its enemies lick their wounds for the moment before resuming the battle. Klove, no doubt, relished extending his pleasures as long as possible. Then Tenchi, like Tris, surveyed the lawn for Ryo-Ohki. A weak "meow-er" reached their ears. Tenchi and Tris looked down. Ryo-Ohki now appeared before them. She had run a wide circle around the lawn to avoid another attack from the entity and then limped up to them. The cabbit's fur was badly singed but it had stopped smoking, at least. The scent of burnt fur filled both Tenchi's and Tris's nostrils. As much as the two young men felt for the cabbit, they couldn't help but pinch their noses shut at the odor. "Meow-er," said Ryo-Ohki miserably. She knew that she smelled bad. She also smarted in a dozen places. "Oh, thank God!" Ryoko exclaimed from the air. "She's not very hurt, is she? How come you two are holding your noses?" Sasami left Lord Yosho and walked up to the cabbit with a concerned look on her face. But the smell of burnt fur gagged her too. She also held her nose. "Ohhhh...poor Ryo-Ohki," she said, her voice sounding nasal due to her pinched nostrils. "You fought so bravely!" "Meow-er," Ryo-Ohki acknowledged the tribute. She wondered if any carrots might be in the offing. Being careful to breath through their mouths, Tenchi and Tris un- pinched their noses and knelt down to examine the scorched, battle- battered cabbit. Although Ryo-Ohki's fur was badly singed, no flesh showed through the fur itself. Thank goodness! The cabbit's skin was not damaged and there were no wounds. But with her shields gone, a second shot of the caustic green plasma might well have seriously injured or even killed Ryo-Ohki. Tenchi relayed this to the hovering Ryoko. The airborne space pirate's wan and pale face mirrored her relief. She loved Ryo-Ohki. The cabbit was not only her starship, but also her companion and friend...the only friend she had for a long time before she met up with Tenchi. "Yeah, she's okay, Ryoko," Tris added. He was carefully petting Ryo-Ohki. She seemed to appreciate the gesture, although one couldn't pet her at all hard. Now Sasami knelt down and softly stroked Ryo-Ohki's fluffy ears. "But she's definitely hors de combat," he added. "Who's a whore?" Ryoko demanded, glaring at him. "It's just a phrase, Ryoko," Tris quickly explained. Ryoko was tired and frustrated after battling Klove's seemingly invincible mind creation and clearly in no mood for frivolity. "It just means Ryo-Ohki is through with fighting for now." "Hell, I know that, goofball!" Ryoko said testily. "Tell me something I don't know." Tris looked up at her. "Okay. You have a smudge on your nose." Ryoko's cheeks flamed and she quickly scrubbed at her nose. In fact, she was generally disheveled and her platinum hair and her torn dress were both soaked with perspiration. The hard fighting, including countless teleportations and generating power beams and fireballs, had greatly taxed even her immense inner resources. Ryoko's power was not unlimited by any means. Just like Ayeka, her power could be drained completely by constant use. Such a complete draining would mean death. Contemplating Ryoko, Tenchi wondered if that wasn't what Klove, working through his mind-projection monster, intended for the space pirate. If he could keep her fighting without respite, he would exhaust her eventually and she would become as easy a target as poor Ryo-Ohki had proven to be. Klove's mind monster was not attacking them now and presumably he was willing to allow this temporary halt. But he was doing them no favors, Tenchi knew. Ryoko needed rest and food to recharge her organic power sources. Ryoko could rest a while, but if she moved away from the vicinity of the Princess for food, the entity would simply hurl the deadly green globules at her and she would have to use her waning powers to avoid them. In fact, her need for water was going to become a vital issue much sooner than food would be. Thanks to the unseasonably warm spring weather, Ryoko had perspired heavily during the battle. Dehydration was a distinct and dangerous possibility. In the meantime, if Dad came back home and unknowingly walked over to them... Tenchi shook his head dispiritedly. Professor Klove had all of this figured out very neatly. Grandfather and Ryo-Ohki were out of the battle and Ayeka wasn't even in the battle, nor were her Guardians. They were all but cornered in one spot from which attempted escape would mean death from the fiery green globules. The entity's aim could be deadly when it wanted it to be...of course, it had gotten plenty of practice with all its other victims. Professor Klove surely had them in check now--and if their next big effort against him failed, he would have them in checkmate. He related those thoughts to the others. Washuu nodded. She looked uncharacteristically morose. "You're right, Tenchi. We might as well face it. Klove's creation has Ayeka's Jurai power and it's handing out a lot worse punishment than it's getting. Poor Ryo-Ohki survived only a few hits from that thing! We've got to destroy that goddamn glob of grue or it'll destroy us...and the smart money is on the glob right now." "Well, you can put your money on me, Washuu!" Ryoko called down. "I'm not done yet—-not by half! Lord Yosho got real close and it was just bad luck with him and Ryo-Ohki getting hit. Now it's up to me and my sweetums! We'll get the job done--won't we, Tenchi?" "We're going to try," Tenchi told her. "Ryoko, are you all right? I know you must be tired. Why don't you come down here and rest—-" "But I'm just fine, sweetums! Really, I am! I'm ready to go again and really kick that blob's butt this time. And we don't want to stop now, do we? We don't know what old Ugly is going to do next." "That's true," Tenchi admitted. "But a little rest might be a good idea." "You do look a little woofed, Ryoko," Washuu told her. "Who's woofed? Not me! I'm on the case! Tenchi, you're ready to take that sword and gut that blob right now, aren't you?" "Yes I am, Ryoko. Only you're forgetting about Mihoshi and Kiyone up there in Yogami, aren't you?" Tenchi replied. He indicated the sleek red form of the Galaxy Police ship hovering high overhead. "Oh, them! What can they do that Ryo-Ohki couldn't do better?" Ryoko demanded. "They'll just get in the way and probably get knocked off real quick. I know I said they could join in if anyone dropped out, but that blob's lots stronger than we thought. They'll just get clobbered. I can just fight faster and harder this time. Old Ugly won't be able to take his nasty eye off me." "But they have the most up-to-date shields on Yogami, Ryoko," Washuu pointed out. "It's true that Ryo-Ohki's shields failed after a few hits from Klove, but Yogami's are stronger. You know that. Kiyone and Mihoshi can at least help you distract that blob a little while-- long enough for Tenchi to do his stuff." "That's right. You've done magnificently, Ryoko," Tenchi told her. "You've really kept that thing on the defensive. But you can't do it alone. None of us can. We're a team...like we were against Kagato." "Well..." Ryoko seemed uncertain. "You know we must band together, Ryoko," Lord Yosho said from where he sat, painfully, on the grass. "With you and the two Detectives in their patrol shop attacking that entity of Professor Klove's, Tenchi will have a fighting chance to bring Sword Tenchi to bear on our enemy. Otherwise...any such effort may fail." Lord Yosho ignored the fiery pain in his side and contemplated the sheathed Sword Tenchi that his grandson had given him to hold. He knew there was something else—-had to be something else—-that could help them defeat Professor Klove. He felt it as surely as he had felt Klove's malignant presence in the past. But he didn't know what that something could be. "In other words, Ryoko, Grandpa here's telling you this is probably our last chance," Washuu added grimly. "We need to use every resource we have." As if to second that notion, a bright green globule sailed overhead and slammed into the ground a few dozen yards away. Again the grass and soil were consumed by a hellishly hot flame. This time they all could feel the heat from that flame. The smoking crater left after the white-hot flare dissipated reminded tham all of the monstrous power of their enemy. "Looks like Klove's getting a mite impatient," Washuu commented. Kneeling by Ryo-Ohki, Tris felt a stab of fear. He also felt Sasami press against him. She was trembling slightly, but otherwise kept her composure as she comforted the injured cabbit. She had to be the bravest little girl in all the world...perhaps in all the galaxy. He noted that Sasami kept glancing anxiously at her prone, silent, and unconscious big sister. He understood Sasami's distress. Ayeka was being drained of her vitality more and more with every moment that passed. Eventually the Princess would be lifeless. Tris silently urged Ryoko to see sense. Besides, Kiyone and Mihoshi deserved their chances at bat. "Ryoko?" Tenchi asked. "Well...okay," Ryoko said. "Washuu, can you contact them on that console thingy of yours?" "Sure. Of course." "Contact 'em." "Right." Washuu's fingers tapped at the keyboard of her translucent console. Then she said into the screen, "Kiyone? Mihoshi? Do you read me?" "We read you loud and clear, Washuu." It was Kiyone's voice. "It seems we can communicate with you, anyway." "Huh? What do you mean?" Washuu asked. "We just tried to contact our Command Post, as a precaution," Kiyone explained. "We couldn't beam our transmission outside the atmosphere here. You think that Klove--?" "I don't think-—I know!" Washuu groaned. "Damn him! He's using his inter-dimensional buffer to bottle up communications. That explains why no one of those massacred families ever got a distress message out. He doesn't miss a trick." "Yeah, that makes sense. Now, what—-" "Is Lord Yosho okay? How is Ryo-Ohki?" Mihoshi's worried voice now boomed from the console. "Mihoshi!" Kiyone's voice grated. "I was just going to ask about them!" "Oh..." "Lord Yosho and Ryo-Ohki are burned but unbowed," Washuu reported. Lord Yosho nodded, pleased. "That was very well put, Professor Washuu," he said. "Meow-er!" Ryo-Ohki agreed. She was feeling a bit better now from all the stroking and petting, although a few carrots would not have gone amiss. She trotted over to Lord Yosho. They sat together now, two wounded veterans of the battle against Professor Klove. "Oh, gosh! I'm so glad!" Mihoshi sounded tearful. "So don't start crying, ding-dong!" Kiyone's irritated voice broke in. "Anyway, Washuu, what's our next move?" Ryoko answered before Washuu could respond. "The next move is we do it again! Only better!" An ironic chuckle issued from Washuu's console. "Well...that's nice and direct!" Kiyone commented. "I take it that we will attack that monster simultaneously, Ryoko?" "You got it, girl," Ryoko said. "Just try not to hit me, okay? It's going to be hard enough mixing it up with old Ugly again." Tenchi groaned inwardly, but did not intervene. Ryoko likely didn't really mean to insult Kiyone and Mihoshi...she just had a way of doing it regardless of her motives. Tris rose now, shaking his head. Boy, if he ever said anything like that to Kiyone—-pow! To the moon! He hope Kiyone would refrain from lashing out at Ryoko. He needn't have worried. Kiyone's voice was sweet—-deceptively sweet—-as she replied, "Why, of course, Ryoko! We'll just try our best not to shoot little old you instead of that huge thing. It'll be real hard because we're both so nearsighted, but—-" "I'm not nearsighted, Kiyone!" Mihoshi's voice objected. "Mihoshi, will you please just shut—-" "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Let's just move along, okay?" Ryoko grimaced and shook her head, impatiently. "Sheesh!" "Good idea," Tenchi said, giving Ryoko that oh-so-special look. Ryoko now looked abashed, floating in the air. Tris had to grin despite the desperate situation. That super-powerful monster of Professor Klove's couldn't faze Ryoko, but one cross look from Tenchi and she became as contrite as a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar. Another glowing green glob zoomed above their heads. This time it landed a bit nearer to them, with the usual white-hot result to the flora. Klove was putting on the pressure to resume the battle. Tenchi took charge now. He walked over to where Washuu stood with her console. He spoke into the console. "Kiyone, you saw what happened to Ryo-Ohki. You'll need to try to avoid what that blob tosses at you and don't get anywhere near those tentacle things. You're just going to distract it—-don't worry about how many shots you fire at it. Just hold its attention. Ryoko will do the same. The second it looks possible, I'm going in. Okay?" "Okay, Tenchi." Kiyone's reply was calm. If she was worried, her voice did not betray it. "Tenchi, you be careful!" Mihoshi's anxious voice urged. "I will, Mihoshi," Tenchi promised her. There was a pause, then Kiyone's voice asked, "Tris...can you hear me?" "Sure can," Tris said. "Good. Tris...there's something I want to tell you." Kiyone's voice, issuing from Washuu's console, sounded hesitant. "Yeah?" "I...well, I...oh, I'll tell you later! Out." Washuu looked up from her console. "She just terminated the transmission." Tris glanced at Tenchi. Tenchi shook his head. Washuu said to Tris, "You don't know the significance of what Kiyone and Mihoshi are doing, do you? You don't know jack about Yogami, really." "No, I guess I don't," Tris admitted. "Well, I'll put it in fighter-jock terms so you'll understand. Yogami is a police cruiser, designed to chase other spacecraft. She's what you would call an air-to-air fighter, or a pursuit vessel. Oh, Yogami does fine in a planetary atmosphere, but she's designed for space travel. And she's definitely not designed to attack an object on the ground, like that blob. To use your terms, Yogami's not an air-to-ground fighter." "Actually, the fighter jocks call it air-to-mud, Washuu," Tris said. "Whatever. Anyway, by attacking that blob, Kiyone and Mihoshi are using Yogami for something she wasn't designed for. That's pretty risky. For example...if Yogami is damaged badly enough to crash, they're so close to the ground that they probably won't have time to deploy their escape pods." "You mean--they'll just crash with their ship?" Sasami asked, looking horrified. "But they'll be killed!" Washuu just nodded. "So, whatever Kiyone wanted to say to you just now, Tris...must have been pretty important." Unseen by the others, Lord Yosho nodded. He didn't speak, however. Tris looked up at the Yogami. Fear for Kiyone—-and Mihoshi—-filled him. Despite the sunny day with its warm, soft breezes and blue sky, the shadow of death hung over everything. Tris knew that Kiyone—- with Mihoshi by her side—-would keep attacking the entity until either it was defeated or they couldn't attack anymore--and that last scenario could mean a fatal crash. Tris wished Kiyone hadn't cut off the transmission so soon. He now had something he wanted to say to her, too. But now Ryoko said, "No one's gonna crash but that blob! I'm heading in now, before it gets any closer with those globs things. I guess Kiyone and Mihoshi will follow my lead. Sweetums, you get ready with your sword. Right?" "Right." Tenchi walked to where his grandfather sat. Lord Yosho handed Sword Tenchi to his grandson. Tenchi shook the golden hilt a few times. The blazing blade shot from it, radiating incredible power. "This time it's defeat for Professor Klove!" "You bet it is, lover!" Ryoko now launched herself at the huge, suppurating, flesh-colored mass that squirmed and heaved, horribly, with its great glaring yellow eye and waving tendrils. Above her, the Yogami, with a soft roar of her engines, followed her in. "If courage and steadfastness count for anything," Lord Yosho said, "Professor Klove is about to meet up with his deadliest foes." The others nodded silent agreement. This was it. Their lives and perhaps millions or even billions of other lives depended on the outcome of the impending battle. Yet, that outcome—-and the aftermath—-was something that no one, not even Professor Klove, could have expected. _________________________________________ CHAPTER NOTES (1) Dr. No once accused secret agent James Bond also of being just a stupid policeman in Ian Fleming's novel of the same name. Kiyone, at least, is in good company.